- Original Xbox console designer Seamus Blackley believes Microsoft Gaming will be “sunshine” under new management
- Blackley believes that the task of the new Xbox Gaming CEO, Asha Sharma, is to “just gently lead all these business units into the new world of AI”
- Sharma replaced former Xbox boss Phil Spencer following the announcement of his retirement last week
Original Xbox console designer and co-founder Seamus Blackley believes that Microsoft will eventually sink its games business as the company shifts its focus to AI.
Last week, Microsoft announced that Xbox Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has stepped down from the company and has been replaced by Asha Sharma, a director of Microsoft’s CoreAI division. The shake-up also led to the departure of Xbox president Sarah Bond, Spencer’s prospective successor.
It’s a huge moment for the company, and Sharma has since shared a message promising “the return of Xbox,” while noting AI and her commitment to content created by real people.
“As monetization and AI evolve and impact this future, we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop,” Sharma. “Games are and always will be art, made by people and created with the most innovative technology provided by us.”
Now, in a recent interview with GamesBeat, the original Xbox co-founder has said that he believes Microsoft’s ongoing AI push will ultimately see the end of Xbox gaming as we know it, despite Sharma’s promises.
“Xbox, like many companies that aren’t in the core AI business, is sunsetting,” said Seamus Blackley. “They don’t say that, but that’s what’s happening. I expect the new CEO, Asha Sharma, her job will be that of a palliative care physician, sliding the Xbox gently into the night.”
According to Blackley, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who has invested a lot of money in the “transform model AI future”, believes that AI will “subsume games as it will subsume everything”, which could mean the end of the traditional game business.
“The job of all these people is just to gently lead all these business units into the new world of artificial intelligence,” Blackley said. “That’s what you’re seeing here. Whether you agree with that or not, whether you agree that AI has the potential for that, whether AI will succeed is a separate matter. But that’s what we’re seeing. It’s not surprising in any way.”
He continued: “It would have been shocking if they had someone in there in a meaningful role who was passionate about games, passionate about the creator-driven business of games, because that would be in direct conflict with everything else that Microsoft does. Microsoft is a company that is now about enabling its customers by enabling artificial intelligence to drive things. It’s at odds with the auteur model of games, but doesn’t have that Apple specifically has a games problem. where they have an auteur-driven content model to manage. Games is the only place they have a content business.”
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